Google offered VLC millions… but its founder said no

However, at a time when Google was seeking to establish Google Chrome as the dominant browser against Internet Explorer and Firefox, a financial offer could have changed the project's fate.

Jean-Baptiste Kempf, president of the VideoLAN association, recently recounted how the company attempted to leverage the software's popularity to accelerate the spread of its browser…

An offer designed to boost Google Chrome

In the mid-2000s, Google Chrome wasn't yet the dominant browser it is today.

At the time, to gain market share, Google was multiplying its bundled distribution agreements, a common practice in the software industry. The principle consisted of bundling the installation of a second piece of software with the download of a popular program, in exchange for payment.

In the case of VLC, as reported by BFM, the offer consisted of paying $1 for each Google Chrome installation performed via the media player's installer.

And with tens of millions of downloads annually at the time, the financial potential quickly amounted to tens of millions of euros. However, it should be noted that this type of agreement was not exceptional.

Indeed, Mozilla long financed a large part of its activities through its partnership with Google for Firefox, to the point of impacting its financial stability. And while many publishers have also used this lever to integrate toolbars or default search engines, for VideoLAN, the logic was quite different…

Independence as a guiding principle

As he explains in his interview, Jean-Baptiste Kempf categorically refused. “We hate bundling and offers, and we will always reject those,” he stated back in 2016. Beyond the amount, it was the very principle of “bundling” that was problematic.

Furthermore, VideoLAN is neither a publicly traded company nor a startup seeking profitability. The non-profit organization, with no permanent employees, relies primarily on volunteers and donations. VLC therefore does not generate revenue from its consumer software, and this lack of economic dependence offers a rare freedom in the digital ecosystem.

In nearly thirty years of existence, VLC has declined several eight-figure offers, whether for integrating advertising or modifying default settings. An atypical trajectory in an industry where software distribution often serves as a gateway to other services…